


With Stars Above and Rock Below

by jujitsuelf



Category: The Losers (2010), The Losers - All Media Types
Genre: Afghanistan, Gift Fic, M/M, Set while the boys are still in the Army, kind of a prompt fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujitsuelf/pseuds/jujitsuelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An Army Christmas for the guys in Afghanistan - </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What’cha got?” Jensen peered into Cougar’s bag, then looked up hopefully. “Don’t suppose there’s anything other than beef stew?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Stars Above and Rock Below

**Author's Note:**

  * For [3White_Mage3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/3White_Mage3/gifts).



> Disclaimer – All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended
> 
> ****
> 
> Christmas 2013 gift fic for the simply wonderful 3white_mage3. Overly gushing I know, but I love you and thank you again for being such a wonderful friend. Here's to many more Christmases to come. (Next year I'll write you porn)
> 
> ****
> 
> Beta duties fell to the awesome saral_hylor and she did a great job, thank you!

“What’cha got?” Jensen peered into Cougar’s bag, then looked up hopefully. “Don’t suppose there’s anything other than beef stew?”

“Sorry,” Cougar shook his head, spreading the MRE packets he had on the ground. “Take your pick.”

“Aww, Cougs,” Jensen grinned, “you old softie, letting me choose first.” His eyes softened. “Anybody would think you like me or something.”

Cougar chuckled quietly but didn’t say anything. Most of the time there were too many eyes on them for him to touch Jensen in the way he wanted to, or act as though they were anything but squad mates. Even at that moment, in the ass end of rural Afghanistan, it wasn’t entirely safe to admit Jake Jensen was far more than just a guy on his team. Jake knew it and didn’t push the matter, instead applying himself to the task of choosing an MRE for dinner.

“How come we’re always the ones who get sent off into the wilds to recon stuff?” he said plaintively, settling back against a rock with the inevitable beef stew packet in his hand. “You’d think command would give us a break, it is Christmas after all.”

Cougar collected together the MREs and stuffed them back in his pack, keeping one out for himself. The sky overhead was darkly ominous, filled with clouds which promised more snow. If he’d been anywhere else, it might have been nice to think that it would be a white Christmas. As it was, he wondered whether he was wearing enough base layers to keep the cold out, his feet were already slightly numb. But there wasn’t a lot he could do about it, as Jensen had said, they were on a recon op and there was a job to be done before they could get back to the warmth and catering of camp.

Poking at the small fire they had going before them, Cougar placed his beef stew packet into the saucepan of hot water next to Jensen’s, then sat back to wait while it warmed.

“Christmas Eve dinner, huh?” Jensen grinned, bumping their shoulders together. “Lucky us. If we were Stateside we could’ve gone someplace nice. As it is,” he indicated Cougar’s multiple scarves and woolly hat, “you don’t even have to dress for the occasion.”

Their quiet laughter didn’t echo very far, the oppressive clouds above them seemed to absorb the sound in that strange way they do when snow’s on the ground and about to fall again.

“Wonder whether Hannah’s in bed yet,” Jensen murmured, swishing his MRE around the pan to heat it evenly. “Still can’t get my head round the time difference between here and the US. Bet she’s destroyed the house looking for presents.”

The strain in his voice was obvious. Cougar took the risk of getting caught and leaned against him, his hand resting against the outside of Jake’s thigh.

“She’s fine. You bought the whole of Amazon for her, she’ll still be opening presents when we get back.”

“Yeah,” Jensen replied quietly, looking down at his hands. “’S’no big deal, not like I haven’t been away at Christmas before, just...” he trailed off, then sniffed. “Not my favourite time of year anyway, but it’s for the kids, right? Would’ve been nice to see her open her gifts.”

Cougar didn’t say anything else, there wasn’t a lot he could do apart from offer platitudes, so he dragged the MREs from the bubbling water and handed one to Jensen. “Here.”

Jake laughed. “Cougar, the ever practical. Thanks, dude.”

Cougar twitched an eyebrow in acknowledgement of the truth of Jensen’s words. He was practical, not given to dreaming. Perfect temperament for a soldier. But recently, since the frankly mind-numbing revelation that his affection for Jake was returned in full measure, he’d caught himself slipping into the odd daydream. Not while they were working, of course, just in quiet moments of which there were always too few.

He wiggled his toes, trying to restore some circulation and dug into his MRE before it went cold. Beside him, Jensen was doing the same, eating with his usual gusto even though he’d already had beef stew earlier that day. Cougar sneaked a few sidelong glances at him, watching Jake’s hands as he scooped chunks of meat out of the pouch. They were good hands, clever ones. Cougar already knew they were just as skilled at coaxing moans out of him as they were at making life flicker into even the more antiquated of tech. Pushing away more explicit memories before they got started, Cougar stared at the bleak, hilly countryside around them.

As he ate, a faint prickle of unease slid down the back of his neck. While not a dreamer, Cougar did put a lot of faith into the sixth sense which a lot of military men seemed to develop. Trusting his gut had saved both his life and his team’s on more than one occasion, so he wasn’t about to dismiss it now.

Dropping his spoon back into the pouch, Cougar straightened up slightly and gazed more sharply into the gathering dusk.

Jensen glanced at him, then rested his hand on his M4, which lay across his knees.

“What?”

People often said that Jensen wasn’t capable of being succinct. Obviously they’d never seen him when he was working. If time or discretion mattered, he could be as tight-lipped as Cougar himself.

Cougar shook his head minutely. “Don’t know. Can feel...something. Eyes on us.”

“Where?” Jensen stretched lazily and smiled as he spoke. Anyone watching them wouldn’t know he wasn’t as relaxed as he’d been a moment before.

Cougar tipped his woolly hat back on his head and scratched his ear. “Can’t tell. Just feels off.”

“Radio Clay?”

Cougar grimaced, unwilling to make the call based on a tiny hunch and make the rest of his team go through the rigmarole of approaching their little camp as though on a tactical patrol. They were all tired and tempers were starting to get frayed, if it was a false alarm, Clay would tear him a new one. Not that he was afraid to make the call if need be, better to get yelled at than let your team get ambushed.

“Wait,” he murmured, staring at a rocky outcrop not far away.

For some reason Cougar got the impression that the unseen eyes which were watching them came from near those rocks. Adrenaline flooded through his system and he felt his heartrate speed up. Fear niggled at the back of his mind, what if it was an ambush, what if he and Jensen were outnumbered, what if Clay or Pooch or Roque were already dead or captured..?

Forcing himself to breathe and think rationally, Cougar eased himself up onto his knees and reached for his Beretta. He heard Jensen shift behind him and the safety of the M4 flicked off.

He clambered to his feet and wondered when it had suddenly gone dark. Wishing he could see better, he approached the rocks. As he got closer, Cougar heard ragged breathing and a frightened gasp. He frowned. That didn’t sound like an ambush, unless it was meant to be a diversion. Licking his dry lips, he stepped forward and peered around the edge of the rocks.

A pair of dark, scared eyes stared back at him. Their owner, a small, skinny boy of no more than eleven, scrambled backwards on his ass, his mouth falling open in fear. Cougar didn’t relax, it was a sad fact of life that even children got caught up in war, trusting anyone without checking who they were first was a quick way to get hurt.

“Who are you?” he snapped in Pashto. “What are you doing here?”

“Hadir,” the boy stammered, his gaze locked on Cougar’s pistol. “I’m Hadir. Please...I’m not anybody.”

“What are you doing here?” Cougar repeated, not lowering the weapon.

Hadir sniffed miserably. “Saw the fire. And the food...smelled nice.”

“You alone?”

The boy nodded. “Just me.”

“Where are you from?” Cougar narrowed his eyes, wondering why a kid would be out on his own at dusk in such an area. “Where’s your family?”

Hadir sniffed again. “Back that way.” He jerked his head to the left. “I was only looking for food. Please, can I go?”

Cougar wetted his lips again. The same sense which had alerted him to Hadir’s gaze now told him the kid was telling the truth. His lungs seemed to relax and work more easily as his body realised it wasn’t about to be attacked.

A sudden clattering of claws on rock and a deep growl made sweat slick the Beretta’s grip, Cougar’s breathing kicked up a notch again as he aimed toward the source of the noise.

“No!” Hadir cried, flinging out a hand. “It’s Mina, only Mina. She won’t hurt you, I promise. Mina, no, back.”

A black dog slunk into the faint light cast by the fire behind Cougar. Her eyes were fixed on him, but she allowed Hadir to loop an arm around her and drag toward him, clinging onto her as though he expected Cougar to shoot her just for the fun of it.

Jensen’s voice behind him made Cougar jump a little. “You keep her close, okay, kid?” As always, his Pashto was perfect, better than Cougar’s.

Hadir nodded furiously. “She’s a good girl, won’t hurt anyone, I promise. She’s just hungry.”

“Nobody else out there waiting for you?” Cougar asked, scanning the now almost fully dark countryside.

“No,” Hadir said breathlessly, still watching the Beretta. “I’m sorry, shouldn’t have come this close. Can we go?” He hugged Mina tightly, she still stared at Cougar.

Cougar nodded. “Yes, you can go.”

Hadir scrambled to his feet, one hand holding the ruff at the back of Mina’s neck. She didn’t look like she was about to spring forward and attack them, but Cougar appreciated the gesture.

“Hey, kid,” Jensen said, his voice friendly. “You really hungry?”

A jerky nod from Hadir was his answer.

Cougar flicked a glance over his shoulder. Jensen looked back at him, his eyebrows raised. Cougar knew the uncle in Jake was thinking of Hannah. Yeah, he was right. Hadir was just a kid, hungry and scared. If it was Hannah in his position Cougar hoped she’d find someone kind enough to share food if they had it. Looking back at the boy, Cougar lowered his pistol and took a step backward.

“All right, we’ll share if you’re hungry.”

Hadir smiled cautiously, obviously as afraid of them as they were apprehensive of him.

“Come on, then,” Jensen called, squatting down to poke the fire and add a few more sticks. “We’ve got beef stew or beef stew, what do you want?”

Creeping closer, Hadir let out a nervous giggle at Jensen’s little joke. Cougar watched as Jake put another pouch into the pan of water to heat up, then settled back against his rock again, picking up his own abandoned dinner. He noticed Jensen didn’t put the safety back on his M4 and smiled to himself. Not as clueless as he looked, not ever.

He stared into the darkness which now surrounded their little pool of firelight but the uneasy prickling sensation down his back had gone. Hopefully Hadir was telling the truth and was on his own. Also hopefully Clay and the others would be back soon, working at night was part of their job but it wasn’t easy. They could all do with some rest and it would just be one less thing to worry about if everyone was safely in camp.

“Here you go.”

Jensen’s voice shook Cougar from his thoughts. He turned to see Jake slide the now hot MRE over to Hadir, who looked at it in confusion.

“Here,” he said, stooping to help the boy, “like this, see?” Hadir smiled as Cougar opened the pouch and beef-flavoured steam floated out.

Mina growled softly in the back of her throat. Cougar gave her a stern look, then grabbed his own food, lukewarm by now. No way was he losing his dinner to a dog.

Hadir scooped out a lump of beef and held it out to Mina, who sniffed it warily before gulping it down. Grinning, he did it again, with the same result.

“You’ll give her all the best bits,” Jensen chuckled. “Don’t forget to eat some yourself.”

Hadir flushed and bobbed his head, digging into his dinner in a way which suggested it had been a while since he’d eaten.

Cougar felt suddenly guilty for suspecting the kid of being part of something more sinister. The firelight lit up Hadir’s thin face and lanky frame, showing him to be skinnier than a boy his age should be. It was a hard life out there, Cougar knew. People worked hard and very often got little in reward for their efforts. The ongoing conflict wasn’t helping anyone and most times it was the normal civilians who got hurt the most.

Cougar pushed his water bottle over to the boy and smiled as Hadir took it with mumbled thanks.

Footsteps in the dark made him sit up straight again, his pistol back in his hand in an instant. He barked out a challenge. Clay’s voice came quietly through the gloom.

“Stand down, it’s us.”

Cougar nodded and thumbed the safety back on before laying the Beretta down, wondering what Clay would have to say about finding a stranger sharing his camp.

“I don’t remember inviting guests,” Clay murmured as he checked everything was still where it should be on his tac vest.

It was clear that he expected an explanation, the question hung in the air. Cougar lifted his chin a little and opened his mouth, not really sure what he was going to say, but Jensen got there first.

“This is Hadir, our new little buddy. He’s alone and he’s hungry, all he wants is something to eat. We’re winning hearts and minds here, sir, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do in situations like this?”

Clay narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at Hadir, as though debating whether he was worthy of the MRE in his hands or not.

“It’s Christmas, Clay,” Jensen’s voice was softer, older. “The kid’s hungry. What harm can it do to help him out a little?”

Switching his gaze to Cougar, Clay said, “You checked he’s got nobody out there waiting for him?”

“He’s alone,” Cougar said steadily. As far as they knew, Hadir was alone, so it wasn’t even a white lie.

“He’s a scrawny thing,” Pooch said, sitting down beside Jensen. “Looks like he could use a few good meals.”

“Fine, he can stay,” Clay said, with the air of a man who just wants a quiet life. “But he’d better keep control of that dog, I don’t want anyone needing rabies shots.”

Cougar nodded and settled back down on Jensen’s other side.

Hadir watched Clay warily, clearly not understanding a word of what was said but knowing it was about him.

“It’s fine,” Cougar assured him. “This is our commanding officer, and our team-mates. You’re fine, keep eating.”

Pooch fished in his pack and drew out a chocolate bar. “Been saving this for tomorrow but I figure this little guy could use it more.” He held it out to Hadir with a smile and switched to Pashto. “You like chocolate?”

Hadir nodded eagerly and gulped down the last of his beef stew then grabbed the treat from Pooch’s hand. Pooch chuckled and ruffled the boy’s hair.

Mina sniffed at the discarded MRE pouch, Hadir opened it up for her to lick the inside clean.

Roque watched the pair of them with a strange expression on his face, Cougar couldn’t decide whether he looked angry or was lost in bad memories. Knowing a little of Roque’s rocky childhood, he decided it was memories when the big man drew a Twinkie from his pack and wordlessly offered it to Hadir.

The boy took it with a shy smile and placed it in his lap, savouring every last piece of chocolate before he opened his new sweet treat.

“You’ll rot his teeth,” Clay grumbled, but looked in his own bag and withdrew a red and white striped candy cane.

Roque raised an eyebrow at the candy and Jensen grinned. Clay’s brows lowered a fraction.

“Do not say a damn word, any of you. I like candy canes at Christmas, deal with it.” He tossed the cane to Hadir and grumpily sat down, rubbing his knee as it clicked loudly.

“Three wise men bearing gifts, huh?” Jensen laughed. “Does that make Cougs and me, Mary and Joseph?”

“Dibs on Joseph,” Cougar said instantly.

“Man,” Jensen grimaced. “Why do I get to be the girl? People always assume I’m the girl, it’s not fair.”

Pooch laughed, Roque and Clay both rolled their eyes and hunched down lower into their coat collars.

Cougar knew he should mind that Jake didn’t seem to care about outing them in front of the other men, but he also knew Clay wasn’t the type of CO to care who his men fooled around with as long as they still did their jobs properly.

Hadir licked his candy cane experimentally and smiled as he realised it tasted good. Mina snuffled at the Twinkie, her dark eyes fixed on her master’s face.

The snow clouds cleared as the breeze picked up and stars popped out overhead, clear and twinkling with no light pollution to obscure them. Jensen leaned more of his weight against Cougar, his shoulder warm and solid.

They should have been organising a watch rota and settling down to get some sleep but some kind of magic seemed to have stolen over all of them. The five men, Hadir and Mina all sat watching the fire glow and crackle as stars wheeled above them, dragging December twenty fifth ever closer.

Eventually, Hadir licked the last of the sticky sugar from his fingers and stretched, rubbing his stomach and grinning.

“Better now?” Jensen asked, smiling back.

Hadir nodded. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Roque surprised them all by saying.

“I should go now,” Hadir clambered to his feet. “My family will be waiting for me.”

“Here,” Clay held out a handful of MREs. “You know what to do with them?”

Hadir nodded and clutched them to his chest. “My family will be very grateful. I’ll tell them about the kind men I met.” He cast a warm smile at Cougar and Jensen, then clicked his tongue. Mina’s ears pricked up. “Come on, Mina, we should go home.”

The dog vanished into the dark, a black blur and a clatter of claws. Hadir bobbed his head again, smiled more widely and followed her, lost from view as soon as he left the glow of the fire.

They all sat in silence for a while. Cougar savoured the moment, it made a welcome change to have helped someone who genuinely needed it. Given the time of year, it seemed like the right thing to have done.

Predictably, Jensen spoke up first and broke the silence. “Hey, Clay. You got any more candy stashed in your pack? I’m a child in need of sugar as well, you know.”

Cougar chuckled and pulled his hat more snugly down over his ears. As Christmases went, this was definitely far from the worst he’d known. He might even say it was one of the best.


End file.
